Elon Musk has a historical past of expressing sturdy opinions about hydrogen and hydrogen gas cells. A number of years in the past, when the topic got here up throughout a dialogue with reporters on the Automotive News World Congress, the electrical car magnate described hydrogen gas cells as “extraordinarily foolish.”
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reiterated his skepticism about hydrogen’s position within the deliberate shift to a extra sustainable future, describing it as “the most dumb factor I may probably think about for energy storage.”
During an interview on the Financial Times Future of the Car summit on Tuesday, Musk was requested if he thought hydrogen had a task to play in accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels.
“No,” he replied. “I actually cannot emphasize this sufficient — the variety of occasions I’ve been requested about hydrogen, it is likely to be … it is effectively over 100 occasions, perhaps 200 occasions,” he mentioned. “It’s necessary to grasp that if you would like a way of energy storage, hydrogen is a foul selection.”
Expanding on his argument, Musk went on to state that “gigantic tanks” could be required to carry hydrogen in liquid kind. If it have been to be saved in gaseous kind, “even larger” tanks could be wanted, he mentioned.
Described by the International Energy Agency as a “versatile energy provider,” hydrogen has a various vary of purposes and will be deployed in sectors such as trade and transport.
In 2019, the IEA mentioned hydrogen was “one of many main choices for storing energy from renewables and appears promising to be a lowest-cost choice for storing electrical energy over days, weeks and even months.”
The Paris-based group added that each hydrogen and hydrogen-based fuels have been in a position to “transport energy from renewables over lengthy distances — from areas with ample photo voltaic and wind assets, such as Australia or Latin America, to energy-hungry cities 1000’s of kilometres away.”
Musk has a historical past of expressing strong opinions about hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells.
A number of years in the past, when the topic got here up throughout a dialogue with reporters on the Automotive News World Congress, the electrical car magnate described hydrogen gas cells as “extraordinarily foolish.”
In June 2020 he tweeted “fuel cells = fool sells,” including in July of that yr: “Hydrogen fool sells make no sense.” Judging by his feedback this week, he stays unconvinced about hydrogen.
“It doesn’t naturally happen on Earth, so that you both have to separate water with electrolysis or crack hydrocarbons,” he informed the Financial Times.
“When you are cracking hydrocarbons, you actually have not solved the fossil gas downside, and the effectivity of electrolysis is poor.”
Today, nearly all of hydrogen manufacturing is predicated on fossil fuels. Another technique of manufacturing consists of utilizing electrolysis, with an electrical present splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen.
If the electrical energy used on this course of comes from a renewable supply such as wind or photo voltaic then some name it inexperienced or renewable hydrogen.
Hydrogen tasks utilizing electrolysis have attracted curiosity from main corporations and enterprise leaders lately, however it could seem Musk just isn’t a fan.
“The effectivity of electrolysis is … poor,” he informed the Financial Times. “So you actually are spending numerous energy to … break up hydrogen and oxygen. Then you must separate the hydrogen and oxygen and pressurize it — this additionally takes numerous energy.”
“And if you must liquefy … hydrogen, oh my God,” he continued. “The quantity of energy required to … make hydrogen and switch it into liquid kind is staggering. It is the most dumb factor that I may probably think about for energy storage.”
Different viewpoints
Musk could also be dismissive about hydrogen’s position within the energy transition, however different influential voices are somewhat extra optimistic. These embody Anna Shpitsberg, who’s deputy assistant secretary for energy transformation on the U.S. Department of State.
During a recent panel discussion moderated by CNBC’s Hadley Gamble, Shpitsberg referred to as hydrogen “a game-changing know-how that speaks to quite a lot of different sources … as a result of it could underpin nuclear, it could underpin gasoline, it could underpin renewables, it could clear a very good portion of it and so can CCUS [carbon capture utilization and storage].”
Elsewhere, February noticed Michele DellaVigna, Goldman Sachs’ commodity fairness enterprise unit chief for the EMEA area, highlight the important role he felt it would have going forward.
“If we need to go to net-zero we won’t do it simply by renewable energy,” he mentioned.
“We want one thing that takes right this moment’s position of pure gasoline, particularly to handle seasonality and intermittency, and that’s hydrogen,” DellaVigna argued, happening to explain hydrogen as “a really highly effective molecule.”
The key, he mentioned, was to “produce it with out CO2 emissions. And that is why we discuss inexperienced, we discuss blue hydrogen.”
Blue hydrogen refers to hydrogen produced utilizing pure gasoline — a fossil gas — with the CO2 emissions generated in the course of the course of captured and saved. There has been a charged debate across the position blue hydrogen can play within the decarbonization of society.
“Whether we do it with electrolysis or we do it with carbon seize, we have to generate hydrogen in a clear approach,” DellaVigna mentioned. “And as soon as we now have it, I believe we now have an answer that would develop into, sooner or later, at the very least 15% of the worldwide energy markets which implies will probably be … over a trillion greenback market every year.”
